Introduction to WordPress Course at Clark College Continuing Education

Starting October 16, 2012, I’m teaching the Introduction to WordPress at Clark College Corporate and Continuing Education in Vancouver, Washington. This is the course many of you have been waiting for – affordable and covering the basics you need to know about WordPress.

The CTEC 280 Clark College WordPress Introduction course continues as a four credit course. This is the college level course for WordPress users wanting to learn how WordPress works and how to use it better for half the price and no degree credits or college registration required.

The Clark College Corporate and Continuing Education program, The Introduction to WordPress, is a slightly scaled down version of the full credit course. It is a thirty hour course designed for anyone looking to learn how to use WordPress for a personal or business website. It covers the basics on how to use the WordPress platform including installation, content management, configuration, SEO, and user experience strategies. The course also covers more advanced areas including WordPress Themes, Plugins, and advanced settings. No prerequisites are required, though familiarity with web browsers and web pages in general is highly recommended.

The Clark College CTEC 280 WordPress Introduction course will be offered Winter Quarter. If you are interested in the course as part of a degree or business education course, contact Reesa McAllister, CTEC offices, at 360-992-2456 to learn how to register and/or get on the waiting list for the class announcement.

A student familiar with how WordPress worked kept saying during one of the courses, “I didn’t know WordPress could do that!” Leiulf, a student from my first WordPress college course, described his experience this way:

Took this course in Fall 2011 just to learn the architecture, nooooo way I was going to blog! I am now posting almost daily, have 63 followers and average between 100-300 hits a day. I strongly urge you to take this class…you won’t regret it.

What’s the Difference Between the Two Courses?

The Continuing Education WordPress course is designed for anyone wishing to learn more about WordPress. CTEC 280 is designed for those on the education path in web development, web design, web programing, journalism, writing, business, etc.

The college course focuses on not just how to use WordPress but the underlying technologies and code, digging deeper into content management, customization, code, WordPress Themes, and configuration. It is about developing sites for clients as well as individuals. Involvement in the WordPress community through support, contribution, and WordPress Meetups is emphasized deeply throughout the course.

The continuing education course focuses on content management, organization, and development, as well as basic configuration and customization. It digs in lightly to WordPress Themes exploring how they work and Child Themes, and how WordPress Plugins extend the features and capabilities of a site. The focus of the course is to help individuals with their specific needs for themselves or their businesses.

Both courses require the student to create their own site from scratch and customize it. They also include a final team project where students work together to create a professional site, putting into practice everything they’ve learned during the course – a fantastic learning experience.

I’m in the process of developing WordPress II for Clark College, the next level course in WordPress development and programming focusing on WordPress customization, WordPress Themes, and WordPress Plugins. Either of these introduction courses would meet the prerequisite requirements, along with PHP, HTML, and CSS, for this course. Stay tuned for announcements.

For more information, contact me directly, or see this past posts on teaching at Clark College.

Is it possible to post your notes online? I would love to see your study guide. I have been learning WordPress on my own. I would love to see it under some kind of structure. Besides, one of my business partner wants to learn it as well and she does not know where to start.

I post many of the lessons and information on Lorelle Teaches for the different courses I offer, but they are only summaries and change from class to class. You will find a lot of the helpful material you need here on this site, or in my book, Blogging Tips, focusing on content building and curation. We will be offering online courses soon at Clark College and I’m working on my own online courses as well. Thanks.

Though I had a professional to design my logo and do my home page, I have struggled to do the rest. I really want my website to work for colleagues around the globe. I will take your course when its available online because even learning on my own leaves so much to be desired. I am also going to purchase your book.

Thanks for the tips. Please let me know when the online course is available.

Thank you for the interest in the online college course. I’m working on making it available next year. It is indeed a challenge to learn on your own. The key is what to learn. Learning piece by piece in an emergency situation – must figure this part out now – means you only learn parts of the puzzle.

[…] similar to my college course on WordPress at Clark College and Clark College Corporate and Continuing Education course, this one focuses on WordPress as a CMS, exploring the site structure, organization, and […]